Retro CD Wallet

Introduction: Retro CD Wallet

About: I like making things out of items that would have otherwise been discarded. Check out my other projects!
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Use old 5 1/4 inch floppy disc sleeves to make a CD wallet. Raid the company archives, scour the thrift store or just ask any packrat for a fistful of old floppy discs. They have cloth already on the inside to protect your CD or DVD (just in time for it to become obsolete).

Any mention of this project must provide a link to www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.

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Step 1: Gather Supplies

Please note that this project is inspired by one featured in ReadyMade.

Step 2: Clean the Discs

Use GooGone or DeSolveIt to soften and remove the 30 year old stickers. Wipe away the residue with paper towels. It may take a few cleanings to completely remove them. You might want to leave the stickers on but i wanted a more clean look. Take care to not get the cleaner inside the disc - the fabric inside will soak up the citrus cleaner and might damage the discs you put in later.

Step 3: Cut One Side Off

Use the scissors or paper cutter to trim off one edge of the floppy. I cut off the edge with the two small tabs already cut out to make an even edge. You can pull out the disc and either discard it or come up with some wonderful use (I've been saving mine until I can come up with a suitable use for them).

Step 4: Punch Holes

Using a three-hole-punch will make sure that the holes are spaced the same distance. You may want to measure to ensure that they all are spaced the same distance from the edge. I just centered the disc sleeves on the hole punch and they lined up quite well.

Step 5: Assemble the CD Wallet

Just put the floppy sleeves on the binder rings and stock your wallet with CDs or DVDs.

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22 Discussions

Any mention of this project must provide a link to www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.

You have no right to demand that. (You could ask nicely, but that's not what you've done.) You can, under copyright law, require that anyone who reproduces your writeup/photos give you credit (and that requirement is included in the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license you've chosen). But you can't require that anyone must mention your name and website if they so much as tell a friend that they saw this project.

The problem that I have battled and the reason I inserted that text is due to copyright violations. There are many unscrupulous websites that just scrape content from Instructables. By using the Creative Commons license that allows for remixing with attribution I want people to use the content, I just want a mention. Far too many people steal content.

They are not key rings - although with some frustration those would probably work. If you look closely you'll see a hinge so they can be opened easily to add or remove sheets - or in this case cd sleeves.

Couldn't find any binder clips (though I didn't look TOO hard), so I'm using one of those holders/files that were made to help people keep & organize their discs. The dividers are coming in handy on these! :)

Or, on the front and back sleeves, you could punch in grommets and tie the opening closed with string. If you're more ambitious, you could make a snapping strap that you glue/sew(?) into either the front or back sleeve and wrap to the opposite end to attach to a snap (or Velcro). I'm not sure how well snaps and grommets will connect to plastic, but it's worth a shot.